Opening Ceremony

Time: 11.00am – 12.30pm

Introducing our keynote speakers

Dr Valentin Fuster

Dr Valentin Fuster, M.D., Ph.D., serves The Mount Sinai Medical Hospital as Physician-in-Chief, as well as Director of Mount Sinai Heart Center. Dr Fuster is the General Director of the National Center for Cardiovascular investigation or CNIC ( equivalent to NHLBI) in Madrid, Spain.

The innumerable positions he has held include those of President of the American Heart Association, President of the World Heart Federation, member of the US National Academy of Medicine, where he chaired the Committee for the document on “Promotion of Cardiovascular Health Worldwide and presently Co-Chairs the Advisory Committee on “the Role of the United States on Global Health” as advisor to the new President, Member of the European Horizon 2020 Scientific Panel of Health, Council member of the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and President of the Training Program of the American College of Cardiology.

After qualifying in medicine at the University of Barcelona, Valentin Fuster continued his studies in the USA. He was Professor in Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases at the Mayo Medical School, Minnesota and in 1982 at the Medical School of Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. From 1991 to 1994 he was The Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. In 1994, he was named director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai a post he has combined since 2012 with that of Physician-in-Chief of the Hospital.

Dr. Fuster has been named Doctor Honoris Causa by Thirty-three universities. He is an author on more than 1000 scientific articles (HI-145). He was named Editor-in-Chief of the journal Nature Reviews in Cardiology and recently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the ACC’s flagship publication and the main American source of clinical information on cardiovascular medicine (Impact factor 17.7). His research into the origin of cardiovascular events, which have contributed to improved treatment of heart attack patients, was recognized in 1996 by the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (highest award in Spanish speaking countries). And in June 2011 he was awarded the Grand Prix Scientifique of the Institute of France (considered a most prestigious award in cardiology), for his translational research into atherothrombotic disease.

Among his many achievements, it is noteworthy that Dr. Fuster is the only cardiologist to have received the highest awards for research from the three leading cardiovascular organizations: the American Heart Association (Gold Medal and Research Achievement Award), the American College of Cardiology (Living Legend and Life Achievement Award 2017) and the European Society of Cardiology (Gold Medal). In addition, in May 2014, King Juan Carlos I of Spain granted Dr. Fuster with the title of Marquis for his “outstanding and unceasing research efforts and his educational outreach work”.

Prof Sir Magdi Yacoub

Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, Founder and Director of Research at the Magdi Yacoub Institute at Harefield Heart Science Centre, Founder and President of the Chain of Hope and Founder and Director of the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation which created the Aswan Heart Centre.

Born in Egypt and graduated from Cairo University Medical School in 1957 he trained in London and held an Assistant Professorship at the University of Chicago. A former British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery for over 20 years and Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Harefield Hospital from 1969-2001 and Royal Brompton Hospital from 1986-2001, Professor Yacoub established the largest heart and lung transplantation programme in the world at Harefield Hospital where more than 2,500 transplant operations have been performed. He has developed novel operations for several complex congenital heart anomalies.

Research led by Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub include tissue engineering heart valves, myocardial regeneration, novel left ventricular assist devices and wireless sensors with collaborations within Imperial College, nationally and internationally. He has also supervised over 20 higher degree (PhD/MD) students and authored or co-authored more than 1,400 published papers and numerous book chapters on topics including Transplantation, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Aortic valve surgery.

He has a passion for readdressing inequalities in global healthcare delivery with a focus on developing cardiac services in many countries including Egypt, The Gulf region, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Mozambique Burundi and Uganda. Here his teams at Chain of Hope link experts together around the world to bring life-saving treatments to children in developing and war-torn countries.

Continuing his desire to make healthcare accessible to all his Centre in Aswan offers state-of-the art medical services free of charge to all patients regardless of color, religion, or gender and trains a generation of young Egyptian doctors, nurses, scientists, and technicians at the highest international standards. Advancing basic science and applied research is an integral component of the program and he oversees over 60 scientists and students in the areas of Heart Valve Biology and Tissue Engineering, Myocardial Regeneration, Stem Cell Biology, Mechanisms and treatment of Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension in his Centres.

Among his honours he was awarded Knighthood for his services to medicine and surgery in 1992 and awarded the Order of Merit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the 2014 New Year’s Honours list. He was awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998 and Fellowship of The Royal Society in 1999. A lifetime outstanding achievement award in recognition of his contribution to medicine was presented to Professor Yacoub by the Secretary of State for Health in the same year. In 2011 was awarded the Order of the Nile for Science and Humanity and the prestigious Lister Medal in 2015 in recognition of his contribution to surgical science.